Summoner

Bestiality!

Hype. I hate the word, but unfortunately there is no other way to
explain the fanfare surrounding the release of Summoner, because
good though it is, it can never escape the carniverous attentions
of the press.
If you were expecting a typical console RPG, think again. Summoner
is a major departure, heavy laden with text and a deep, evolving
storyline. The game centres on a young lad called Joseph, who has
the power to summon ethereal demons to do his bidding.
Unfortunately he's denied himself the powers for a long time,
because as a child, while inexperienced, he accidentally
slaughtered his entire hometown. Which needless to say didn't go
down too well.
The game is filled with bizarre plot twists surrounding the
progress of young Joseph and his three companions. The levels
system that controls your troupe's powers is one of the game's
strong points. You get to choose which of the character's skills is
improved as a result of your experience, and since only certain
characters can wield certain weapons and special abilities, it's
essential to afford each of them equal priority.
The battle system borrows heavily from last year's Squaresoft
PlayStation smash hit Vagrant Story, using real-time and turn-based
combat allowing you to perform Chain Attacks by pulling your weapon
in various directions with the D-Pad as you strike. There is a
complex magical association between all living creatures, weapons
and such that becomes a key factor in how much damage your attacks
can do, as well. Think of it as Summoner's version of The Force.

Furry

Obviously the game picks up once Joseph drops his vow and starts
summoning again. The beats Joseph pulls out of the ether are
monstrous allies in combat - you can opt to use them in battles as
a token fifth character, but the obedience of these creatures
depends on Joseph. In other words, if he gets knocked out the big
beast might reconsider who it's attacking.
Visually Summoner is a work of art thanks to Volition's
implementation of full-scene anti-aliasing. After problems with the
technology last year many were sceptical of the developer's ability
to make Summoner live up to its billing, but whatever they've done
it looks spectacular with a smooth, unblemished 30 frames per
second and no discernible jagged edging.
I don't personally think that Summoner is the most visually
impressive game on the PlayStation 2, but the quality of modelling,
environment and texturing is almost second to none throughout.
Thanks to the overly complicated graphical engine though, draw
distances are very disappointing. Characters also occasionally look
a bit blocky, although this has more to do with a lack of polygons
than a failure to apply anti-aliasing properly.
Throughout the game, the only other engine or graphical issues we
encountered were the mildly depressing load times when entering a
new town or city, and occasional problems with clipping, where text
bubbles go through walls and the like. When in full flow though, we
had no concerns about framerate drops and the like, which appeared
minimal. By all accounts, this is a pretty decent PAL translation.

Melodious

Like most console RPGs one of Summoner's most devoted aspects is
its musical score. During the intense cinematic cut scenes it is a
roaring success, and supplements the game's style and execution
perfectly. The battle themes are top, and things are very
atmospheric thanks to the soundtrack.
Character speech is also used during cut scenes, and the game
boasts some intelligent voice acting. The script-writing isn't
atrocious either, which is a good thing due to the large amounts of
text used, that's for sure.
It's unsurprising that Volition chose not to voiceover the entire
game, because there really would have been too many bit parts to
play and words to say in general. The major concern we had with the
game as a whole was that occasionally there did seem to be too much
to say and too many people to consult with.
For instance, while it's very true that in an average town people
would have a lot more to say to a group of mystical strangers than
"There's something spooky going on in this town - mark my words,"
or a similar RPGism - having to speak to so very many people at
length can become quite tedious and detrimental to the general
experience of playing Summoner. On several occasions I simply
forgot who I had and hadn't spoken to (particularly between saves)
and had to wade through reams of text again to figure out where I
was going.

Conclusion

All right, so ultimately Summoner is an accomplished RPG, with more
text than most to delve into. I don't like spoiling the storyline
by giving away massive hints during my appraisals, but I will say
that I found it occasionally mesmerizing, and for the most part
very exciting. There have been a lot of excellent console RPGs in
the last year or so, and Summoner does enough of its own thing to
be worth buying independently. It's hardly a killer app with which
to sell the PlayStation 2, but it definitely has a knack.
At about 30 hours from start to completion with plenty of
diversions along the way, it offers a lot more gameplay than some
other early PS2 titles, and probably about the right amount for the
average console gamer in general. Titles that stretch into the 50s
and 60s are often just too long and drawn out for most to consider
playing, but 30 is a reasonable effort.
It's not really fair to bash Summoner too much for its various
shortcomings, because although they restrict it from living up to
the cast moulded for it by a year of hype, they aren't damaging
enough to force gamers away. Having completed Summoner, I feel much
the better for it, and I think you will too. With Onimusha due to
hit within the month though, you could be forgiven for letting
Summoner pass you by.